Central New York school districts await federal jobs money - and Albany action

School opens in less than a month, and Central New York school districts are waiting for their share of the state’s estimated $607 million in federal education jobs money.

They don’t know yet how much, if any, of the money they will receive. The federal money is supposed to be used to retain or create education jobs, and in a year of state aid reductions, some local districts cut jobs.

How the money will be divvied up is in the hands of the state Legislature, which is not noted for its ability to get things done fast. The legislature isn’t even in session, but a spokesman for the Senate Democrats says they been told to prepare to report next week.

A spokeswoman for the governor’s office said she expects lawmakers to reach swift agreement on this one. New York State United Teachers spokesman Carl Korn and Robert Lowery Jr., deputy director of the New York State Council of School Superintendents, said the same.

“It’s an election year, so I think the chance that they wouldn’t come back and get this done quickly are really slim,” said Larry Cummings, executive director of the Central New York School Boards Association.

New York State United Teachers the money would save between 7,000 and 8,000 jobs statewide.

The legislation says money can be used to retain or create new education jobs, but it cannot be used to pay off debt, to create a “rainy day fund” or to cover general administrative or support service expenses.

Lowery, of the superintendents’ association, said it appears districts can use the money this school year or next year.
Before the money can flow to school districts, the state has a decision to make.

The federal jobs law says the state needs to pick one of two methods to decide how allocate the money. It can use its primary state aid funding formula or it can allocate it based on a district’s eligibility for federal school poverty money. That would drive more money into the poorer, big urban districts, such as Syracuse, and less into more affluent districts, Korn said.

It would easier and more politically palatable to use the state’s primary aid formula, Korn and Cummings said. Gov. David Paterson plans to send lawmakers a bill that would do that, Paterson spokeswoman Jessica Bassett said.

School districts want to know how much money they will get so they can decide whether to bring jobs back or create new ones. Syracuse, the region’s largest district, so far has cut nearly 250 of its roughly 4,000 jobs, and district officials are eager to get the federal money.

Other school officials say the same.

“Absolutely, we need it,” Jordan-Elbridge Superintendent Marilyn Dominick said. “You know, we eliminated 17.4 positions. It’s a lot. And you know, some of those were enrollment driven, so I’m not in favor of just hiring all of those back. But we really cut too deep in a couple of areas but felt we had no choice.”

Liverpool was hit hard, too, and needs the money, Superintendent Richard Johns said. It cut 130 positions, including 48.5 teachers, and closed an elementary school. As of Friday, Johns had questions not only about how much his district would receive but how
it could be spent.

“Without a doubt, to be able to spend it in 2011-12 would help us,” he said.

Because school district budgets are already set and because the school year is at hand, districts may want to use the money next school year — if allowed by the law — when the budget situation is expected to be horrible, Cummings said.